The present invention relates to an infant warming apparatus and, more particularly, to an apparatus for providing the functions of an infant incubator and an infant warmer and which includes a convective heating system and a separately controlled overhead fixed radiant heater.
There are, of course, many devices or apparatus for the warming of an infant and to supply the necessary heat to maintain the infant at a predetermined temperature. Of the various apparatus, there are infant warmers that are basically planar surfaces on which the infant is positioned and which planar surfaces generally include side guards to keep the infant safely within the confines of the apparatus.
Infant warmers normally have an overhead radiant heater that is located above the infant and which thus radiates energy in the infrared spectrum to impinge upon the infant to maintain the infant at a warm, desired temperature. Since the infant is otherwise totally exposed to the surroundings, there is almost unlimited access to the infant by the attending personnel to perform various procedures on that infant. An example of an infant warmer is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,517 of Falk et al as prior art to that patent.
There are also infant incubators and which are more confined enclosures that contain the infant within an enclosed controlled atmosphere in an infant compartment that provides heat to the infant and also may provide control of humidity in the enclosed environment. Such incubators maintain the infant for long periods of time and include handholes to access the infant. Generally, there is, in addition, one or more doors that can be opened to access the infant or to insert or remove the infant to and from the incubator. Such devices provide a good atmosphere to the infant and control that local environment within which the infant is located, however, it is sometime difficult to perform a wide variety of procedures on the infant due to the somewhat limited access to that infant. An example of an infant incubator is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,824 of Koch et al.
At the present, there are also certain infant care apparatus that have both of the aforedescribed functions, that is, the apparatus can operate either as a radiant warmer or an incubator and one such apparatus is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,935 and entitled “Infant Warming Apparatus” of Mackin et al and assigned to the assignee of the present application. In the Mackin et al patent, the apparatus has a canopy with a radiant heater and the canopy and radiant heater can be moved between an upper position where the radiant heater directs the energy in the infrared spectrum towards the infant to provide heat to the infant and a lower position where the radiant heater is disabled and a convective heating system is provided in the infant apparatus to heat the infant now enclosed within an infant compartment and covered by the canopy.
An infant apparatus is also shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,539 of Jones et al, and assigned to the assignee of the present application. In the Jones et al patent, there is canopy having a radiant heater positioned over an infant support and, again the canopy and the radiant heater can be raised and lowered between upper and lower positions where the radiant heater is energized when in the upper position and the convective system provides the heat to the infant when the canopy and radiant heater are in the lower position. There are also a set of doors in the Jones et al patent that are opened and closed to allow the heater to radiate outwardly and to enclose the heater in a protective environment when the radiant heater has been inactivated.
Thus, in the operation of the Jones et al apparatus, as the canopy and heater descend toward the infant in converting the apparatus from a radiant warmer function to an incubator function, the doors are automatically closed to retain the heater in that protective environment and, conversely, as the canopy and the radiant heater are again raised to convert from an incubator function to an infant warmer function, the doors are automatically opened so that the radiant energy can emanate from the heater, when energized, toward the infant resting on the infant platform.
There has also been disclosed another infant apparatus that utilizes both the functions of an infant incubator and an infant warmer and is described in a printed publication of Dragerwerk AG in 1991, where an apparatus is disclosed having a hood that can be raised and lowered. When the hood of that publication is lifted to an open position with respect to the infant platform to afford access to the infant, a radiant heater in the configuration of a horseshoe shape can be energized.
Finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,474 of Dukham et al, there also is described an infant apparatus that utilizes a convective heater system generally located beneath the infant platform and which is energized when the apparatus is closed and is operating as an incubator. There is a canopy that can be opened by rotating two canopy halves downwardly to open up the infant compartment and a radiant heater can then supply radiant energy onto the infant.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have an infant apparatus that selectively incorporates the better features of the aforementioned differing apparatus by having a fixed heater that is positioned above the infant platform on which the infant rests to direct radiant energy toward the infant when the apparatus is functioning as an infant warmer while also have a movable canopy that can move between a closed position where it encloses and forms an infant compartment warmed by a convective heating system and an upper position where the caregiver has complete access to the infant and the apparatus is operating in the infant warmer function.
It would also be advantageous in such infant apparatus that there be some means to transmit the radiant energy efficiently from the radiant heater despite the presence of the canopy that is movable over the infant platform without having the canopy impede the transmission of the radiant energy from the radiant heater to the infant.